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Uzbekistan's Foreign Policy Challenges and Prospects in the Coming Year

25 February 2010 - 3:00pm to 4:30pm

Chatham House, London

Participants

Sodyq Safaev, Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Relations of the Senate of Uzbekistan

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Overview

For Uzbekistan, perennial anxieties about regional security, extremism and terrorism are compounded by concerns over instability in Afghanistan. At the same time, neighbouring Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the OSCE has thrown the spotlight on the prospects for strengthening mechanisms of regional cooperation. How does the country see its role in the region, balancing involvement in Russia's security system with cooperation with the US and the NATO-ISAF mission in Afghanistan?

Minister Safaev will discuss the internal drivers and external pressures shaping Uzbekistan's foreign policy. He will speak for approximately 20 minutes, followed by an hour of questions and discussion.

Sodyq Safaev became Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of Uzbekistan Senate in 2005. In that year he also served as rector of the University of Diplomacy and World Economy. In March 1992 he became First Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations. In February 1993 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. In September of that year he was names Ambassador to Germany and represented Uzbekistan in the OSCE. In 1998 he became Ambassador to the United States and Canada. In March 2003 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and served in this position until 2005.